This report discusses network automation primarily with Ansible. Ansible is a software from Red Hat that can be used for network automation. The report also goes through YAML which is a standardized way of exchanging data, Jinja2 that is a templating language, Python as well as the security with Ansible. The report also goes through why network automation is needed as well as how much time might be saved with Ansible. Ansible ships with modules for Cisco IOS such as ios_config and ios_command and for Cisco ASA asa_config, asa_command and asa_acl as well as many other modules for Arista, Juniper and for other vendors. Ansible can use new APIs by creating new modules for handling that particular API, which means that the only change needed in the playbooks is to change the module name. Ansible can handle NETCONF API using the netconf_config module or various Juniper modules. Ansible is used in this report to perform certain tasks such as to adding VLAN's, close ports on ASA's, audit network devices configuration as well as to create network diagram using the information from CDP. Ansible can be made as secure as manually doing the tasks except that Ansible can do it faster and more consistently.  For connecting to normal Linux servers Ansible uses OpenSSH which is a default SSH client on most Linux systems and for connecting to network devices it uses Paramiko. The security in Ansible depends on SSH and may or may not have passwords stored locally, Ansible can be as secure as the administrator wants it to be such as using RSA key-pair to authenticate, using vault encrypted credentials or asking the administrator about which username and password to use. Using Ansible network automation can save time, the amount saved depends on what is being done, how many devices it is doing it on as well as how the playbook is written. / Rapporten behandlar nätverksautomation primärt i Ansible. Ansible är en mjukvara från Red Hat som kan användas för nätverksautomering. Rapporten går igenom YAML som är ett sätt att standardisera överförning av data, Jinja2 som är ett mallspråk, Python samt säkerheten i Ansible. Rapporten går dessutom igenom varför vi ens vill ha nätverksautomation och hur mycket tid som möjligtvis kan sparas. Ansible kommer med moduler för Cisco IOS som exempelvis ios_config och ios_command och för Cisco ASA finns moduler så som asa_config, asa_command och asa_acl. För andra tillverkare så finns det moduler för Arista, Juniper och för andra leverantörer. Om en ny API kommer ut för en ny enhet så kan en ny Ansible modul skapas som använder denna, vilket betyder att Ansible playbooks kan då använda sig av de nya modulerna med samma struktur som tidigare. Ansible kan hantera NETCONF API med hjälp av netconf_config modulen och av flertalet Juniper moduler. Ansible kan användas på ett lika säkert sätt som manuellt arbete, med undantag på att Ansible gör det snabbare och mer konsekvent. För uppkoppling till vanliga Linux-servrar så använder Ansible OpenSSH klienten som standard och mot nätverksenheter utan Python installerat så används Python biblioteket Paramiko. Ansible använder sig av SSH och kan ha lösenord sparat i playbooken, utanför i annan fil, i ett krypterat vault, fråga användaren som användarnamn och lösenord samt autentisering med hjälp av RSA nycklar. Ansible används för att skapa olika VLAN, stänga portar på en ASA, granska nätverksenhetens konfiguration gentemot vad den borde ha för konfiguration samt för att skapa nätverksdiagram baserat på informationen från CDP. Genom att använda sig av Ansible nätverksautomation så kan tid sparas, hur mycket beror helt på vad som ska göras, hur många enheter det ska göras på samt hur playbooken faktiskt är skapad.

In today's ever-automating world, businesses are increasingly focused on optimizing network operations, including configuration, management, and troubleshooting. This study scrutinizes the comparison between manual and automated methodologies within the framework of the cloud-based Cisco Meraki platform. Our objective is to establish decisive criteria for identifying the most advantageous circumstances for automation, particularly in network configuration. To achieve this, we constructed a network consisting of three Meraki devices. Automation of network configuration was facilitated through the development of Python scripts leveraging the Meraki API library in conjunction with configuration files. The configuration files were constructed in various file formats–Excel, CSV, JSON, and YAML– in order to assess their impact on automation effectiveness. Moreover, manual configuration tasks were undertaken by three network technicians with varying levels of Meraki proficiency. A comprehensive series of tests, encompassing both automated and manual methods, was subsequently conducted, focusing on metrics such as execution time and keystroke count. Through meticulous analysis, we provided valuable insights into the effectiveness of automation in network configuration processes. Results demonstrated that the use of JSON files in the automation process yielded the shortest completion time and required the fewest keystrokes compared to other automation methods. Moreover, manual configuration via the Meraki dashboard GUI exhibited comparable efficiency to automation methods in networks with a small number of devices. Nonetheless, owing to the capacity to reuse configuration files with minor adjustments for similar setups, the true advantage of automation over manual configuration becomes apparent as the device count increases.